Collide  Duo's POV
by pathetic otaku child
Summary: They were born to save the world, but exactly how do they do that? Plus, with all the opposites in the group, friction is sure to arise, but they do say that opposites attract…though these boys are bound to set all rules and preconceptions on their ears.
1. Prologue

Title: Collide- Duo's POV

Author: Pathetic Otaku Child

Rating: M

Disclaimer: Don't own GW. Don't remind me…

Pairings: 1x2, 3x4, 5 by his sad widdle lonesome. TT.TT

Warnings: lots of very bad language, shonen-ai, Duo POV, magic, supernatural beasties, Hellish fiends (AKA Treize and Dorothy. And Relena), Senile old men, yaoi, possible lemons in other chapters.

A/N: This is a joint ficcy with Haliaetus. I write Duo's POV, she writes Heero's. They're posted separately. You can probably read just one and be able to get it if you're too lazy or don't have the time to go look her up as well, but you should anyway. But it was my idea originally. Mine!

Prologue

_The ashes fly by us gently in the wind, brushing against our faces. But we don't care in the least. We're too busy contemplating on what has just happened. There is almost a music in the wind: A whispering chorus. The steady beat is provided by our hearts. The grass whistles almost as if to accompany it. Our job here is done… for now. Because the cycle never ends. When we find the next group, and get them ready, though I for one will be damned before I become like one of the last batch. Then we'll be done, and then we can finally die in peace. Until then, we'll have to live with our sins, and with each other. Then again, who said that was a bad thing? I want to sing with the wind, but there aren't words, just a feeling. I wonder if the other guys feel it. I want to dance with the world, slowly and painfully, along to the music that only I seem to hear. Just to confirm that this isn't a dream. I am alive and free for the first time in my young life. At the same time, I feel like a sudden chain has been slapped around my wrists. But chains can hold a person's sanity in place. I have a promise to keep. My hand reaches out to grasp that of the boy standing to my left. He looks at me sharply, as if I broke him out of a trance or a nice dream. But then he smiles. It's really small, and most people wouldn't recognize it for what it is. But I do. And I know that no one else will ever see that smile but me. We look back out at the now empty plain. It's done. And it's time to go home. _

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Where does my story begin? I was born, for one thing. From who, I don't know. I doubt I ever will. I had two families growing up as kid. The first was the street crew I ran with until the age of seven. One by one, they all either got sick, or caught by the police, or went someplace with some guy, only for a little bit but ended up never coming back. The gang wars were what finished us off, though. In that last fight, everyone died. 'Cept for me. Solo fell on me when he died. I couldn't move and I couldn't scream, 'cause more bodies landed on top of him. I finally was able to dig my way from under the pile of dead bodies, but that was after it was too late. Police had already arrived. I was taken into their custody and questioned. A lot. But I didn't tell them anything. I couldn't betray the guys, even if they were dead. So I got packed off to this orphanage halfway across the country. Unfortunately, after only a couple of years, I lost them too. Which really was a crying shame. I was just damned lucky that I hadn't been around; I'd gotten detention at school for fighting. Again. Being stupid like that is what saved my sorry ass. It does seem to be what I'm best at. After that, I couldn't stand to go to foster homes, as I knew I would if I waited around for the authorities. So I left. I had been surviving since then on the streets, hitchhiking or stowing away when I needed to move on to another town, because of- err ….pressing circumstances. Like getting someone in some gang pissed at me. Or getting in a bit of a squabble with the boys in blue over whether the five fingered discount could be considered legit in some states. That is, until I turned sixteen. You must have noticed the 'had' up there. I was pretty excited, though, 'coz in a couple years I'd be 18 and so be running from the cops for one less problem.

But then, one night in February, all I was doing was walking down the street, minding my own business and wondering where I could steal myself a coat from, when this black car pulls up in front of me. Just like outta the movies, yanno? 'Cept, when a couple of the cliché buff dudes all in black jumped out, I wasn't able to fight 'em all off. Whadda ya think I am, Batman? I mean, I'm just a scrawny kid who's been living off what I can steal or get from dumpster diving. Not exactly the right growing material. I have been told that my attitude more than makes up for my stature. I never asked if that was a good thing. Anyway, so this big group of action movie dudes jump me and I fought as well as I could with my switchblade against their fancy martial arts shit. I think I may have killed a couple of 'em, and injured three others. But I was still blindfolded, tied up, and stuck in the little car. I'm sure that they regretted not having a gag though.


	2. Pinch Me

Title: Collide- Duo POV

Author: Pathetic Otaku Child

Rating: M

Disclaimer: Don't own GW. Don't remind me…

Pairings: 1x2, 3x4, 5 by his sad widdle lonesome. TT.TT

Warnings: lots of very bad language, shonen-ai, Duo POV, magic, supernatural beasties, Hellish fiends (AKA Treize and Dorothy. And Relena), Senile old men, yaoi, possible lemons in other chapters.

A/N: This is a joint ficcy with Haliaetus. I write Duo's POV, she writes Heero's. They're posted separately. You can probably read just one and be able to get it if you're too lazy or don't have the time to go look her up as well, but you should anyway.

Pinch Me

So, I was dreaming, that's what I figured. I mean, how many sixteen year old street rats get kidnapped by a large group of official looking men in black suits and sunglasses? Not many, I'll tell you that. Random sickos, that's a totally different story.

I turned my head to where I figured there to be one of my remaining attackers and asked, "Ok, so are you from the CIA or somethin'? 'Cause I really don't think I did anything bad enough to get them after me. Or the mob? C'mon don't leave me in the dark more than I am." That last one was a lame joke, I know. But I really didn't like not being able to see where we were going.

The bastards in black didn't answer me, though I could hear their breathing, so I knew they were there. I made an annoyed sound deep in my throat and tossed my long, loose chestnut colored hair back over my shoulder. I knew I was pouting, and quite frankly, I didn't care right then. What I really wanted was to know who the hell had had me kidnapped, and where the fuck I was going to. Oh, and what would happen to me there would be nice, too.

Frustrated, I began yelling at my kidnappers, using every swear word I had ever heard (a hella lot, if you were wondering. A total of 14 years spent on the streets gives you a rather interesting education. And trust me, you don't wanna know the curriculum.), which included quite a few foreign languages.

After five minutes, I paused to take a breath and one of the men muttered sarcastically, "Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?"

"No, 'coz I ain't got a mother. And I don't kiss no papa either," I snarled at my unseen captor. "Now let me outta here or I swear I'll do something you won't appreciate."

There was a snort from the other side of the car as a different guy spoke. "Oh, what can you do? You're tied up and blind for the moment, remember?"

I was silent for a moment, thinking. Then I finally said, "I can sing some very annoying songs and get them stuck in your heads." I even smirked a little. Trust me, that may not sound like torture, but it is. Especially if I could manage to get two or 3 songs stuck n their heads at once. Apparently they didn't think it was very effective either, due to their condescending noises.

About four different renditions of the Barney song (I hate you/ you hate me/ so why do you fuck me constantly?), the Song That Everybody Knows, Men In Tights, Weasel Stomping Day, Numa Numa, It's So Easy, It's A Small World After all, The Song That Never Ends, the Llama song, and Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious later, the car finally came to a stop. Unfortunately, the dudes had wizened up a little by that time. They'd converted the blindfold into a gag and thus saving their remaining sanity.

I was ushered ( More like frog –marched) inside. A freaky, straight-laced and obviously no nonsense lady stood waiting.

"Ah, good to see that you've arrived, Mr. Maxwell. " She paused and scanned the room before smirking slightly. "And here's your room mate now. Mr. Yuy…"

A kid around my age turned around. The first thing I noticed was his eyes. He was obviously oriental in heritage, but his damned eyes were the deepest blue I had ever seen. Quickly, I forced my mind back to the fact that I had _been kidnapped._ Did no one here care that I was gagged and bound against my will? Unless there was some weird BD fetish that was a common occurrence here…..

The 'Mr. Yuy' walked over, face blank and calm. "A pleasure to meet you…?"

"Duo Maxwell," The lady supplied.

"Maxwell. I'm Heero Yuy." He concluded.

Okay. This was a fine introduction and conversation. I hadn't even said one bloody word yet…

"I hope you don't mind the liberties we've taken, Mr. Maxwell," The lady continued. "We have some uniforms ready for you in you rooms. If you would follow Mr. Yuy…?"

I glared at her a moment then looked pointedly at one Bastard In Black from the corner of my eyes, then the other. I then turned back to glare at her once more, a 'Yeah, and _how_?' expression plainly on my face.

As if she'd forgotten about them, she waved her hand at my kidnappers, dismissing them. Unfortunately, they left with out untying anything.

Heero nodded his head toward the stairs and started toward them.

I stared at his retreating back, eyes wide, for a second before hobbling after him. All the people here were fucking off their goddamn rocker, man. I mean, Jesus! These guys just waltz in here with me all trussed up like a Thanksgiving Turkey, hand me off, and I'm supposed to stay here? Wherever here was….By the posh surroundings and the mentioned uniforms, I figured it was some ritzy private school or something.

I followed the Asian kid up the stairs as best I could, hopping up most of the steps since my legs were bound together, and was pretty thankful after he stopped at the top of the stairs and waited for me. After I finally caught up, he motioned for me to turn around. I obliged slowly, wondering what the h ell he was going to do now.

"Sorry I couldn't take these off downstairs," he said and I felt a tugging at the straps that held my arms behind my back. The pressure was gone and I started to rub feeling back into my tortured limbs. He did the same to my legs before finally undoing the strip of cloth still in my mouth.

Finally able to voice my displeasure once more, I took a big breath of air, ready to start on a rant that would shake all seven levels of Hell, and Heaven for that matter, when his hand came down o my mouth.

"Not. Here," he bit out. "Wait a minute and I'll explain more fully in our room."

Well, what could I do? I followed reluctantly, though I couldn't resist sticking my tongue out at his back. Childish, sure, but it felt damn good. After we entered the little dorm room, I looked around at the furnishings, but I felt his eyes on me, looking me over. I kept myself from shivering. Sorry, but I really don't like it when people look at me closely. Residual paranoia from the streets.

After a few moments, he spoke and I turned my attention back to him. "Did you bring any stuff?"

I stared at him, knowing that I probably looked like hell. I mean, my hair hadn't been combed in god knows how long and I hadn't had a shower or a change of clothes for a week. "Are you blind as well as spoiled?" That said, I moved past him to open the dresser and examine the uniforms. Might as well take the clothes, at least, before I try and get out.

"What makes you think I'm spoiled?"

Oooh, was that just a hint of emotion, anger to be precise, that I heard? I turned around and narrowed my eyes at him as I pulled off my shirt to put on one of the god-awful light blue polo shirts. Well, I could have clean clothes, even if I couldn't be fashion conscious. "You think I'm stupid? This place is way too ritzy for anyone but the obscenely rich. There's no way anyone else would get anywhere close."

His thrice damned eyes looked slightly amused, even as his voice regained it's neutral tone. "You think this is some rich kids' academy?"

Ok, hold the phone. I was getting extremely confused here. "I, uh…_yeah_. What else could it be?"

He sighed. "Well, you were fairly close. You're at the Darlian-Peacecraft Institution of Higher Learning."

Now I was just plain, mother fucking and bugger all shocked. I mean, this place is legendary. A school for the elite and the kids with, uh…special issues. Not drooling in their wheel chairs type special issues, but ultra-human type. Wait…

"What the fuck am _I_ doing here? I'm not one of those crazy mutants!"

Just as Heero began rubbing at his temples, a bell rang and he was grabbing my arm and rushing me out the door. I'm ashamed to admit that we were about halfway down the hall before I collected my wits and was able to exclaim, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Classes are starting, smart ass." By that time, we were down the stirs and in the area that the class rooms were in. He roughly pushed me into a class room and right into a blond kid our own age before leaving, presumably for his own class. I mumbled a few choice curses under my breath at him and got myself untangled from the other boy. "Eh, sorry 'bout that…"

The blond smiled in a friendly manner, "Quatre Raberba Winner. Sorry about that. Entirely my fault. Please excuse me. You are?"

I stared at him, hardly believing my ears. _I_ knocked into _him,_ and he said he was sorry. Whatever. I figured I might as well give him my real name, as it was obviously already known. I mean, the tight ass lady by the doors had obviously known who I was, which scared the shit out of me. I didn't like people knowing too much about me, especially people whose agendas were a mystery. Not good for security reasons, yanno. "I'm Duo Maxwell. I may run and hide, but I never tell a lie. That's me in a nutshell."

He looked at me a little funny, but shook my hand before directing my attention to the tall boy next to him with the funky auburn hair. "This is Trowa Barton."

Trowa gave an affirmative grunt and a little wave before looking back to the front of the classroom as the teacher walked in. I grabbed a seat on the other side of Quatre and whispered "By the way, what class is this?"

"History," he whispered back, looking rather surprised by my my question. "Didn't you know that?"

I chuckled quietly, hiding my mouth behind my hand behind muttered, "Naw. I'm kinda new here. Got here about fifteen minutes ago, yanno."

This revelation not only made the blonde's eyes grow wider (which I hadn't thought possible. I was pleasantly surprised, and filed the picture away in my mind to laugh at later, when I was less confused and feeling a bit more calm), but Trowa leaned around him to take another look at me.

Arriving at a school only a short time before class started must not be standard operating procedure. I wouldn't know. I had only actually gone to school during the time that I was with the orphanage. So that meant only two years of formal education. Not exactly normal to these guys. Hey, at least Father Maxwell had patiently taught me to read. I wasn't a complete idiot, just because I hadn't gotten schooled properly. I only knew the School of Hard Knocks, which I had passed with flying colors. And in my mind, that was all I needed to get by in this dog eat dog world. If I followed by the rules of the streets, I should be fine.

Well, maybe I did need to learn a few things to fit in with these preps. Heero certainly had ahell of a lot of explaining to do…

I was interrupted from my thoughts when the fricking teacher tapped me on the shoulder and pointed at the board and said, "As I said three times, Mr. Maxwell, would you be kind enough to show the class how these events connect, as you seem to think that it isn't worth your attention."

Feeling a brick red flush begin to creep its evil way up my neck, I stood. Why did grown ups always seem to pick on the kids who really didn't need the extra stress. Maybe it was because I stood out so much with my overall grubby appearance, or the fact that I seemed to radiate "smart ass". Great.

I shuffled my way to the front of the room and looked more closely at the board. I was apparently supposed to put the events leading up to World War II in order.

I knew what WWII was, but not any of the more detailed shit. I stared at the black lines helplessly. What the hell was I supposed to do? Glancing back at the stony faced teacher. I knew I wouldn't b getting any help there. Finally I shook my head, openly admitting that I had no idea. I ignored the snickers of the other students as I made my way back to my seat, keeping my head down. Keep a low profile, and they'd eventually forget about me, hopefully.


	3. Me Against The World

Title: Collide- Duo POV

Author: Pathetic Otaku Child

Rating: M

Disclaimer: Don't own GW. Don't remind me…

Pairings: 1x2, 3x4, 5 by his sad widdle lonesome. TT.TT

Warnings: lots of very bad language, shonen-ai, Duo POV, magic, supernatural beasties, Hellish fiends (AKA Treize and Dorothy. And Relena), Senile old men, yaoi, possible lemons in other chapters.

A/N: This is a joint ficcy with Haliaetus. I write Duo's POV, she writes Heero's. They're posted separately. You can probably read just one and be able to get it if you're too lazy or don't have the time to go look her up as well, but you should anyway.

Me Against The World

After the bell rang, the stupid History teacher kept me after to talk about my _hair_. I mean, don't you think a teacher would be more worried about the fact that I had been unable to do the stupid timeline? But no. Prep schools (I still thought of it as one, no matter what anyone said) were more worried about appearance, of course.

And it didn't help any that I was most likely gonna be late for my next class. A small, geeky looking kid was able to direct me to the Geography room, which, according to the schedule the history teacher had handed me, was my next class. I managed to power walk to the other side of the classes' wing without looking incredibly dorky and slipped into the room as the bell rang. The first person I saw was Yuy, so I strode over, trying to keep my rising hysteria in check. I guess my mind still hadn't grasped the situation. I mean, if I look back on the events of today, it's like something out of a movie or, even worse, a fifty cent paperback. A dirty little street rat bastard is kidnapped by men in black and is taken to an almost legendary prep school for the gifted. He encounters a mysterious boy with incredible eyes and has no clue whatsoever as to what is going on. Next he knew, there'd be secret organizations.

I sat in the chair next to Heero, not really noticing my surroundings other than the desk and sighed inwardly. It would probably be a good idea to try and escape while I still had my sanity partially intact (in other words, I still had what little sanity I'd always possessed).

To keep myself away from hysterics-inducing thoughts like these, I decided to let a little leash out on my mouth. "Damn, but that teacher is a dickwad." I grumbled. "Held me after to talk about my _hair_, of all things! You sure I'm not at some richie academy?" I glared at the desk, even though it was completely innocent and hadn't done a thing to me. So I shifted my attention to the bit of hair that I had begun tugging on unconsciously; nervous habit.

"Positive. We'll explain everything after classes," I heard Yuy say to me quietly. I started to nod, but then my mind grabbed the plural and decided to run with it.

"We? Who's this 'we'?"

The guy looked behind me. For just a moment, I waited, making sure I was prepared to not start laughing maniacally or crying. Just wouldn't do, yanno? I mean, I'm just about to have my conspiracy theory proven….

But then I saw that the 'we' was Quatre, Trowa (the nice enough dudes from History, remember?), and some Chinese kid I didn't know. The blond smiled at me, and I mentally added subtitles. 'It's okay; we're not here to kill you, but only to make your life a living hell.'

I barely restrained those crying jags and crazy laughing fits that time. If only I could get some goddamned answers around here… I'd probably be a lot more stable. "You'll explain after classes?"

Yuy nodded and said solemnly, "Promise. Now shut up."

Nice guy. Mr. Personality of the Year right here.

I laid my head down on the desk and rolled my eyes. I hadn't gotten any _decent_ sleep for several days now, and planned on taking full advantage of the fact that it wasn't very likely that anyone would pull out a shiv or a piece in this school, or at least during class.

Yuy was pleasant enough to wake me a few minutes before class ended and direct me in the right direction for Math. Turned out that I didn't have any body I knew in that class. I stared at the teacher for that class disbelievingly as he told us our assignments for homework. The best I could do was add and subtract, and maybe multiply and divide the easy shit. But for sure, I would not be able to do this stuff. And what kind of teacher assigns homework the first day anyway? I glared at the multitude of numbers swimming around on the page, unable to make heads or tails of them. It was almost enough to make me cry in frustration. Except I did NOT cry, a-aight? The last time had been when I…well, when I was a young kid. Let's leave it at that for now. I got another kid to direct me in the direction of 'Specials' class? What the hell kind of class could that be?

Well, whatever it was, it was a couple buildings out, in what looked like a large gymnasium. One with padded floors and partially on the walls too. There were bleachers on one side. I saw the Chinese guy who was one of the Conspirators, and decided I might as well meet him, as he was the only one who I hadn't been introduced to.

"Hey," I said simply as I dropped down next to him. He silently appraised me, much like Yuy had, before nodding a greeting. Apparently I'd passed the silent inspection.

"I dun think we've really met. The names Duo Maxwell."

"Chang Wufei."

We really didn't get a chance to say anything else, though, because Yuy came up to us just as the teacher came out. At the teacher, I had a hard time not whistling. The man had platinum blond hair almost as long as mine, Of course, his was brushed perfectly and it shone prettily in the glare of the overhead lights. Damn guy probably even had name brand hair care products that he had the luxury of using, doubtless regularly, at that.

Okay, maybe I was a little jealous. Shut up.

Some girl a few rows down whispered "probably too old for us, huh?" to her neighbor. Too bad for her (and us. I for one really didn't need that image, but thanks) that you could hear every damn thing in that weird ass excuse for a gym.

The young teacher with the insanely sweet hair gave her a glare that would have put Yuy there to shame and suddenly just…vanished. I'm dead serious. Not joking. I had heard about the rare person who could pull off creepy shit like that, but I figured that they were all either urban legends or magicians.

We were silent as a tomb for a second, just trying to understand what the hell had happened. Then the room erupted into noise, everyone trying to make themselves heard wit their ideas or suspicions. Needless, to say, I was completely shocked as well, but tried desperately to take it in stride. I mean, being on my own and a drifter to boot has taught me that at least. Not to say hat I haven't been caught off guard a few times (today was evidence of that). Surprisingly enough, those times had not been when I was drunk off my ass or in a completely new turf. No, it was when I was comfortable and somewhere safe that people jump out of the shadows at ya, 'cause any other time I'm perfectly wary. So the lesson here kiddies is to never trust anyone and always watch your back, no matter where ya might be.

So I filed this new occurrence away under New Crap To Be Watched Out For and started looking around for the dude like everyone else. That was actually pretty easy, as all I had to do was follow Yuy and Changs' gazes.

The bastard was smirking at everyone as if he was having a great deal of fun at our expense. Probably was, too, the rich little fucker. He certainly looked arrogant enough for three men.

"I am what is called a teleport."

Big surprise there. He walked by us then and continued down to the ground level, now that his little show was over. I couldn't help but noting that he had a real nice ass, though. Can you blame me? I forced my attention back up though when he continued speaking.

"That means I can transport myself, other objects, and other people with my mind alone, without touching them. Several of you probably have talents similar to mine. This class is Specials. It is where you will learn how to use and control the abilities that got you in this school. Some of you may have already been taught some of this, but I assure you that what we are doing here is much more intensive and thorough than anything you will find outside."

I couldn't believe it. This was some kind of school for freaks, and I was being lumped in with them. I couldn't help but mutter, "And if we _aren't_ one of your precious little mutants?" while glaring a hole in the wall straight ahead of me. I had to get my anger under control or I might lash out and get expelled. Wait…wasn't that a good thing?

But he just kept on talking. "My name is Zechs Merquise. Call me Zechs. I will be the main instructor, though we have others to help with specific talents. This first day, we will simply be reviewing the different types, figuring out what each of you are, and setting the basis of what your presence here means. We'll begin with the teeks—those with mind powers."

I couldn't help it any more. I stood up and glared directly at the tall blond teacher. "Yeah? Well, what if I don't fucking belong here? I'm not a teek, or anything like that. If you can just give a lift to the nearest town, I'd be happy enough to leave."

I felt two pairs of hands trying to unobtrusively tug me back down to my seat, but I shrugged them off. Zechs seemed to look me over, a slightly puzzled look in his eyes.

"Well, I know you have something. Just sit tight and I'll get to you later. For now, I would like for all those who have already been tested to get into their respectful groups." With one last look at me, then Chang and Yuy, he turned away.

I was shaking with anger at that point. Who did this guy think he was? The bloody president? And what the hell did he mean, I have something? What kind of something? Fucking Hell!

I felt the pressure on my arms again and sat down heavily. Damn….I was so flipping confused…. What am I supposed to do, anyway, roll over and just take it up the ass from these freaks? No way in hell! That wasn't the Maxwell way.

I looked at the two other boys who are currently being ignored by our teacher. "So…what now?"

Wufei snorted and sat back, closing his eyes as he folded his arms and seemed to be relaxing. "We wait for him to come and say that he can't tell what we are."

I couldn't help but stare at him for a second, then turned to my other companion, hoping against hope that he would be a bit more sane. "Is he serious? What the hell is wrong with you guys anyway?"

Heero just kept his eyes trained on the other students, watching them for a few minutes before answering. "I said that everything will be explained. And it will. Later. You have to trust us for now."

"Oh, yeah. I'm just gonna sit here and _trust_," at this I snorted, "some people who I'm definitely thinking had something to do with my goddamn kidnapping. Sure, all right, whatever you say. Ya want fries with that?" I rolled my eyes, then glared at him. "Bloody Fucking NO! Like Hell! I seriously recommend that you guys take me right back where you found me." My whispering was becoming strained and a bit louder than necessary, but I didn't care. I was starting to give into the panic that had been gnawing at me all day. "I'll have you know that I killed a couple of those damn goons you sent to take me. Do NOT get on my bad side, I'm warning you."

My hand went for my knife on its own, I swear. Reflexes and all that, yanno? But Yuy and Chang both reacted with lightning quick movements and each took one of my arms again.

"Calm down, you idiot,' one of them whispered. I'm not sure which. My mind was growing more frenzied by the second. There's only so much a guy can take in one day, all right? My life had taken an unexpected 180.

I closed my eyes and forced down the hysteria. Again. I knew I could do it. I wouldn't have made it to the ripe old age of sixteen if I had ever freaked out on the streets. Easy meat. I took a few extra moments to get my breathing under control before opening my eyes again and glaring over at Yuy. He seemed as good as any to bother.

"Get. Your. God. Fucking. Damn. Hands. Off. Me."

After they complied, I curled my arms around myself and stared down t the other people below us. No one had noticed my little outburst. Good. Shit like that is a weakness. And those are never good. If your hand offends you, cut it off and all.

But it seemed that Zechs had finished with the other students and was now headed towards us, the slightly puzzled look back in place. He stopped just in front of us, on the set of seats in the row just below so that he was at eye level with us.

"You three…" he muttered, half to himself. "You three are a conundrum. I usually can red people very well, but… You seem different. Same as those other two, last hour. Barton and Winner. I also was unable to get any readings from them. I know you lot have something, but as to what…."

Yuy spoke up as the tall teacher trailed off again. "Would you be able to let us work on it privately during class, sir? That way you have more time to work with the other students."

Zechs seemed to think for a moment before nodding slowly. "That would be fine. As long as you let me see what you've been learning every once in a while. There's another gym connected to this one. You can use that. Or the smaller one just outside."

The other two nodded and stood, mumbling something about class almost being over. Then I was being dragged out the door along with them.

"I can use the smaller gym," Chang offered. "I tend to get a little….destructive. You probably won't want to be in the same room. And I have history next, so I'll see you later."

Yuy nodded shortly and muttered an affirmative before continuing to drag me down the hall.

"Okay, big guy. What's the big idea? Where the hell are we headed? To the nearest closet so you can have your nasty way with me? Or behind the wood shed so you can chop me into itty bitty Duo pieces?"

He glared at me a second before smirking mercilessly, "The Arts class. Those come later."

I couldn't help it. My jaw dropped. The man had a sense of humor? I think hell just froze over.

Heero dropped my arm and I followed him quietly, still not quite believing he had a sense of humor. Unless, of course he'd been serious….Okay, not going there.

In yet another new classroom, I slumped down and crossed my arms, scowling at the desk top. I'd gotten a nap earlier in Science class, but I was still damn tired.


	4. Click Click Boom

Title: Collide- Duo POV

Author: Pathetic Otaku Child

Rating: M

Disclaimer: Don't own GW. Don't remind me…

Pairings: 1x2x1, 3x4, 5 by his sad widdle lonesome. TT.TT

Warnings: lots of very bad language, shonen-ai, Duo POV, magic, supernatural beasties, Hellish fiends (AKA Treize and Dorothy. And Relena), Senile old men, yaoi, possible lemons in other chapters.

A/N: This is a joint ficcy with Haliaetus. I write Duo's POV, she writes Heero's. They're posted separately. You can probably read just one and be able to get it if you're too lazy or don't have the time to go look her up as well, but you should anyway.

Click Click Boom

Sleep is a lovely thing. It really is. So I was thankful for the chance to get some more during Arts. But, Heero just _had_ to wake me, of course, at the bell.

Sleepily, I tagged after him towards the dorm. My mind was half aware when we spotted Quatre and Trowa (Yes, they were on a first name basis. They had been kind to me and seemed like nice people so far).

Heero paused and said in that annoying monotone way of his that demanded no arguments, "Go on back to the dorm and wait there. I'll be up in a moment with the others."

I nodded and started to do as he had told me before my stupid, drowsy brain registered what he had said. Turning halfway towards him, I stopped just for the sake of rebellious argument. "You said you'd tell me what the hell is going on."

He sighed, a faint line appearing between his eyes. "Yes, I did and I will. Just not right this instant. I'm going to get the other guys and then we'll all explain things. Okay?"

I nodded again but resisted the urge to roll my eyes. I'd been hearing the "yeah, but later" speech a lot today, dammit.

I took full use of the time I might have while Heero would be gone to poke around the rooms, as I hadn't had time earlier. The bathroom was small, and there was no window there. The only window was in the main room with the beds in it, and that was so small that I would have a hard time getting out of it but it was good to have my options open, yanno? I figured that the bed closer to the door was Heero's, as it was slightly rumpled, so I figured that he one under the window was mine. I had noticed the wardrobe earlier when I had gotten the uniform shirt.

I really reeeally wanted to take a shower in the nice looking facilities provided, but before I got the chance, Quatre and Trowa waltzed in. I had been about to take off my shirt, thinking about that wonderful shower and couldn't help the blush that came to my face. Hurriedly, I replaced the article of clothing.

"Uh... Hi guys. Go ahead and make yourselves at home."

Quatre smiled at me easily. "Thanks, Duo. And don't worry; we'll start explaining things as soon as1 Heero and Wufei get here. " That said, he took a seat on Heero's bed and Trowa came to lean against the wall near him.

Well they certainly seemed at home. Mission accomplished... Unfortunately then there was an awkward silence.

"So… is there anything you _can_ tell me?" It was really getting on my nerves how these guys could be so anal retentive about keeping their secrets. I mean, seriously, who does that in real life? They weren't spies or anything like that. They were just a group of bored rich kids- scratch that, a bunch of bored rich mutants who had too much free time and had created a secret society while coming off a massive cocaine high. Hey, how many reasons are there for kidnapping random people? I was going with what I had here. Maybe, for this secret society, they had to sacrifice someone or something to that extent. Hopefully not a virgin sacrifice or they were out of luck in that department.

I was snapped out of my admittedly screwed up thought s by the sound of the door opening. I looked up from where I now lay on my bed and saw Heero and Chang. Standing in the doorway. Well, looked like it was debriefing time. Fun stuff.

I stared at them. "What took you so long? I was about ready to send out a rescue team to search for you."

Okay, not really, but it sounded better than saying that I had been dreaming up weird ways of being brutally murdered at a remote prep school in the mountains. Yeah, ma lot f horror movies happen on or in mountains, but…..1) this was not a horror movie and 2) I was rambling again.

In the time I had not been paying attention, Heero and Chang had gotten themselves comfortable. And Heero had said something.

"You said you wanted to know why you were…" my brain belatedly supplied. That thing needed to be fired.

"Kidnapped." Really, it was the only way to put it. "Say it like it is, Yuy. I've probably heard worse." Kay, maybe he had upped in my book enough to be thought of on a first name basis, but there was no way in hell I was letting him know that.

"Why you were kidnapped, then. Where do you want me to start?"

What a stupid question. "Hmm…How 'bout at the beginning? That's usually where things start, isn't it?" I closed one eye to look nonchalant about the whole thing. Hey, a little attitude never hurt anybody, did it? Well, yeah, but…

"The beginning. I don't know about the very beginning. I've been told that it's as old as the world is, possibly even older. I don't know. I will tell you what I've been told, what I've found on my own and what I have experience personally. None of us can do any better than that. It happens every fifty years without fail. A great power is brought into this world, seeking to harm it. How it is manifested is never clear or consistent. It could be a world leader, a revolution, a virus, anything at all. Something of such magnitude that, if left to spread unchecked, would bring the world to its knees. At the same time, an equal force is born into the world to oppose this power. Five children are born with powers that echo that of nature."

There was a short pause, then suddenly a nasty looking dagger appeared between Heero's fingers. "Water," he explained.

Around Chang's hands, there seemed to be sudden flare of flames. "Fire," he said, pretty much unnecessarily.

"Earth." The ivy on the wall outside reached in through the now open window to curl around Trowa.

Quatre started glowing softly. I also noted that the room seemed to heat up a little. Not an uncomfortable amount, but more like calming warmth. "Life and light."

Now that everyone was done with their cliché little introductions, Heero (who was obviously the leader man her) continued. "These are the four that we have so far this time around. The men who found us and have taught us how to use our powers were the ones who had them fifty years ago. We have all trained since we were young to prepare for the time when the evil would come into the world yet again. We have trained to fight, to defend our home. It is why we are here, it is why you are here. Do you understand?"

I was silent a second before sitting up, trying o digest everything that I'd been told. If all this was true, then the world was in some seriously deep crap. But then again, I'm really not all that gullible. "You have got to be shitting me. There's no such thing as magic, or destiny or whatever else you're spouting off. You all must be smoking something if you think I'm gonna believe all that shit you just tried to feed me. Though, how did you do those cool illusions? That might come in handy someday…"

And they were cool. I was about to point out that they were good enough to take their act on the road and become cushy billionaires when I noticed the dark looks I was receiving. "Or not. That works too."

Chang was glaring at me the hardest, and when he spoke, I fought the urge to shiver. "They're not illusions. If you think they are illusions, then you have been living with your head in a rock all your life. Surely even you can tell what's true and what's not."

I blinked. Enough with the B-movie lines and dramatics already! "But…it's impossible!"

Heero frowned and the ice dagger he'd had earlier appeared again between his fingers. "Care to test that belief? I'm prepared to bet that this ice will hurt just as much as a real dagger would."

I couldn't help the flinch. I'd had run-ins with knives before, none of them pretty. In fact, some of them had been a few of the worst experiences of my life. 'S why I carried one around with me all the time. I glared at him. No more first name basis for him, that privilege was gone. Yuy again. Bastard.

"You wouldn't!"

When his expression didn't change at all, I knew for certain that he was a cold-hearted son of a bitch, just like his power.

"He would. None of us would hesitate if it meant getting you on track." Oh, and tall and silent had decided to speak up now too. Great.

"Trowa's right. We know what is coming and we'll do everything within our—granted, rather considerable—powers to stop it. Including forcing you to fight with us." And there was little Quatre. Why had I thought he was kindhearted again?

I closed my eyes a moment, measuring everything I had been told against itself again. It didn't look like there were any obvious loopholes. And it would definitely be in my best interests to do what they said. Finally, I took a deep breath and spoke. "Okay. Let's say I believe you, for the sake of the argument, 'kay? Where does that leave me? I mean, you guys seem to know what you're doing, have been trained since you could walk almost and know what you're going to face. Mostly. I, on the other hand, have just been dragged off the streets into something I know nothing about, without prior warning much less formal training, and no clue as to what the hell I'm doing. Also, you guys all know your powers, but what's mine?"

When after a few moments, no one said anything I eased one eye open and looked at each of them. "Well, don't everybody speak up at once. Don't you guys know?" I stared at Yuy. They'd better have at least an idea…

"No, we don't." Both my eyes were wide open and staring at Chang now.

"What?!" I jumped up, unable to just sit there with this bullshit being hurled t me. I knew I was tense, and that that wouldn't help me any, but I couldn't help it. "You guys have me kidnapped, tell me all this bullshit and then say you have no idea what powers I have, if any?! Do you have any idea how fucked up that is?!"

Quatre also stood and took a few steps closer to me, obviously a bit worried. He was trying to be reassuring. Yeah, well, it wasn't him that had been kidnapped and thrust into this strange place. Yeah, I know I couldn't let the kidnapping thing go. But could you? Didn't think so.

He spoke slowly and calmly. "We don't know what your power is because we didn't know that there was a fifth until just a few days ago. However, we will talk to our mentors and find out what it is. When we have done that, you will be the first to know. Until then, there are some things that you can work on, such as mental and spiritual control, that any one of us can teach you. Do you have Specials with any of us?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Chang and He-Yuy. Why?" oops, almost forgot that Yuy had been demoted to last names only.

"They can work with you to teach you the basics of what you need to know until we find out what you actually are. It might be a while, though that's probably a good thing since we'll be starting from scratch with you." Trowa pulled him back and Yuy started talking now.

"Is any of this making sense?"

Pshaw, sure. Just a second while I make a list. "Mostly. Lemmee see if I got this straight. One, you all have funky powers. Two, you have to use said powers to defeat the almighty evil that's coming to take over the world. Three, I'm apparently one of you guys. Four, you have no idea what my powers are, just that I have them. Five, we're all apparently just unlucky pawns in this shitty game of fate and the less I question it the easier it'll be. Six, you guys can teach me the basics of controlling my unknown powers while you figure out that particular puzzle. Seven, you're expecting the shit to hit the fan sometime soon. That about it?"

"Well…when you put it that way…"

I was about to smirk at the Chinese teen when Yuy spoke. "How did you know we were expecting the shit to hit the fan soon?"

"Uh, maybe the fact that we're all here together?" Was the guy an idiot? Please, someone tell me that he'd already known this. I mean, the guys been training for so long, you'd think…"Well, it just seemed obvious to me. Are you sure you have the time to teach me?"

"Duo, you need to understand." Quatre turned sad looking eyes on me. "This isn't just about us. The whole earth is at stake here and we can't afford any mistakes."

Sighing, Chang put his two cents in. "Put plainly, we can't do it without you Maxwell."

What a way to make a guy feel loved.


	5. Control It

.Title: Collide- Duo POV

Author: Pathetic Otaku Child

Rating: M

Disclaimer: Don't own GW. Don't remind me…

Pairings: 1x2x1, 3x4, 5 by his sad widdle lonesome. TT.TT

Warnings: lots of very bad language, shonen-ai, Duo POV, magic, supernatural beasties, Hellish fiends (AKA Treize and Dorothy. And Relena), Senile old men, yaoi, possible lemons in other chapters, mentions of NCS in this particular chapter.

A/N: This is a joint ficcy with Haliaetus. I write Duo's POV, she writes Heero's. They're posted separately. You can probably read just one and be able to get it if you're too lazy or don't have the time to go look her up as well, but you should anyway.

Control It

The room was dead quiet after Chang spoke.

"Say what?" I mean, I know that I'm charming, beautiful and talented, but…

"If all five of us aren't together, we have no chance against the enemy. We need you, so we will do whatever it takes to ensure that you are able to stand and fight with us. Is that easier to understand?"

After a moment I nodded. Yeah. I figured that the reason they needed me wasn't due to any of my wonderful selling points.

Yuy stood and shooed the other guys out, closing the door to speak privately probably. I stood still a moment (if they could see that, I'm sure they'd have massive collective heart attacks.), then looked towards the bathroom.

_Finally_, I would get that shower. Yes. As quickly as I could, I darted into the bathroom and started pulling off my shirt as I kicked the door closed. Yes, I am multitalented. You probably don't want to know about some of the other multiple things I've perfected though. And I kinda doubted that they'd be needed now that I was at this school for free. And some mutant hero thing. Hopefully, I'd never have to use some of those talents again. Then again, if I could get myself a boyfriend… Oh, did I mention I was gay? Haha, sorry. Must've slipped my mind. Yeah, I'd never actually had one of those before. A couple johns or the usual rape and gang bang, but no one who actually liked me for my whole person. At least, no one that wasn't dead.

O-kaaaay. Time to get off of that train of thought. I stepped into the shower, as the water was finally hot. Oh, GOD! Who made these showers? They needed a medal. Never before had I felt something so nice and calming and cleansing…All hail the shower gods!

And now I was getting giddy. Maybe that extra donut at lunch hadn't been a good idea. I realized that I'd probably been in here a while and reluctantly shut off the water and grabbed a towel. Now…a hairbrush would be nice. I fought the urge to giggle as a song I'd seen a cucumber sing on a video at the orphanage suddenly came to mind. "Oh where is my hairbrush," I sang softly under my breath. I saw a comb sitting on the sink and shrugged. Good enough.

I took the time to comb out all of the tangles in my long hair. Really, there had to be something more efficient. After I got that done, I picked up my discarded clothes and walked back into the bedroom, throwing said clothing at the hamper in the corner before crawling into bed. Luckily, after this stressful and VERY eventful day, it was easy to get to sleep.

The next morning, I was surprised to be up before Yuy. I took the chance eagerly and moved over to his bed to get a closer look at him.

Actually, he was _really_ easy on the eyes. Rather fine features for a boy, even more delicate than mine. His whole face was quite Asian, except when he opened his eyes…..

…like now. Those almost too blue eyes snapped open to stare at me. In one fluid movement, he had surged upwards and flattened me to the ground. Wow. This boy wasn't all looks. He sure could move hella fast.

Somewhere along the lines, he had summoned his ice knife thingy-mabobber. The last bits of sleep left his eyes and he stared down at me as if seeing me for the first time. Then his gaze arrowed and the weapon that I'd really rather not see again.

He growled something I couldn't make out at me and got up to go about his business. Thanks, nice guy. Attack me first thing in the morning, then threaten me (who knows what he really said?), then ignore me. I glared at his back, then decided that I might as well get ready too.

History wasn't too bad or good, so that was fine. In Science, the teacher had some stupid quiz that everyone aced but me. What did I get? I wish I could say I got A for effort, but…I didn't know any of this shit, and it was only the second day of school! Come on. Math wasn't much better. I was almost relieved when Specials came around, simply because I wasn't expected to know stuff there. Yuy and Wuffers were going to help me with it. Yes, Wuffers. I decided that the guy was okay enough to get a nickname. Same with Q-ty and The Trowster. 'Fei had proved himself when he admitted that they needed me. And Yuy…was on probation. I guessed I'd start thinking of him as Heero again.

I got there just before class started and had no time to talk to Wufei or Heero before Zechs started bitching. After that, we got to head over to our special little space (the other gym) and we got ready to start on my training. Woohoo.

Heero told me to stand in the middle of the floor, so I dragged myself to where he'd requested. But instead of telling me what to do, he pulled Wufei over to the side for a parent teacher conference. Or more like a teacher-teacher…

After a few moments, Wu walked over to me and said, "We will begin with finding your power. I want you to focus on this." With that, he held up a mirror.

Huh? Okay, what does looking at my face have to do with anything? I looked over to Heero, just to make sure that Wufei wasn't losing it. When the iceman nodded encouragingly, I shrugged and looked at the stupid mirror. I was starting to regret my decision to stay, even if there was a shower and free food.

"Concentrate on something that you see in it. Cut away the distractions around you until what you see is all you can see. Nothing exists except for that. Do you have it? Good." I'd met a hypnotist once before, and the way that 'Fei was talking now reminded me eerily of him. Despite my misgivings, I could feel myself calming as I stared at my reflection.

"Now, I want you to turn your mind inward. No, don't look away, keep focusing on what you see. Make sure you have that image fixed before your eyes before you try it again. Got it? Okay. Now try again. Send your awareness through your soul to find your center, where everything that is you has its beginning. Let it embrace you, pull you in. Sort through it now, separate the different strands that are your thoughts, your personality, your memories, and find that spot that seems to draw you in, that calls out to you."

I did what he said, but my brow creased as I frowned. It really wasn't that easy. I didn't even want to glance at the memories stored there, but apparently I had to. I tried to find that spot he was talking about, but it always seemed to be in my peripheral vision. All I could tell was that it was dark and formless.

And suddenly, there it was, before me. A writhing mass of black shadow, with sparks of crimson. Oh-kay. I couldn't seem to focus on anything but that…thing. I could hear whispers coming from it. I came closer so I could hear better.

What I had thought were whispers turned out to be screams and curses and grunts. By now I was starting to realize that something had gone wrong and was trying to pull back out of whatever had gotten into, but quickly realized I couldn't. I had a sudden urge to scream, but no sound came out, only adding to the panic that was starting to well up inside. The darkness crawled around me, starting to pen me in. I tried to move my mouth, my arm, anything, nothing happened.

Mentally, though, I was flailing, in full panic mode. I struck out at the forming wall, and it shrunk back, just a little. Grasping at the thin strand of hope offered, I pulled back and hit it again, harder. It receded further. The lessons I had learned on the streets helped me here. Panicking gets you killed more often than not. So does anger. Passion and strength were all well and good, but they needed to be focused on something so that they didn't turn on you and end up biting you in the ass. Keeping this in mind, I narrowed my concentration at the formless barrier between me and where I wanted to be.

Another hit, a little more ground gained. Again. And again. Harder, further. Again.

Now I could hear another voice, though I couldn't make out the words. It sounded like Heero. I dragged my consciousness closer to where the sound was coming from, trying to block out the ugly noises behind me.

". . . 's me. I've actually only been training for about seven years, which is still a rather long time, though not nearly as long as the others have. This is probably the most I've said since I started my training, in fact. You should feel honored. I—"

"...honored my ass…" I managed to choke out, finally starting to get back into the control seat of my own body.

"Maxwell? Can you hear me? Answer me dammit! Don't you dare do this to me, Maxwell! Duo!" Now he started shaking me. Thanks, just what I needed, buddy. Then it sunk in what he'd called me.

I was able to open one eye for a moment in surprise, but I couldn't keep it that way for long. Instead, I smiled slightly. "Thas the firs' time you've called me Duo…" Damn, my mouth wasn't working too well either. At least it wasn't complete gobbledy gook. I opened my eyes and started to try and sit up, and Heero moved to help me. Fuck, but it hurt. It was like each muscle was not happy with me and decided to take it out on me at the same time. 'Ro (Yes, he gets a nickname now too. He called me Duo. He's making progress. So there.) let me lean against him and we just sat that way for a little while. I closed my eyes. If I didn't hurt so frigging much, this would be quite nice.

"What happened?" I asked, deciding that more explaining was in order.

He shifted a little before speaking. "You went too far into the trance and were almost sucked into your power and trapped there. We almost lost you."

Well. Thanks for the good news. I opened my eyes (again. I really should get a gym credit for eye aerobics) I looked around. "Where's Wuffers?"

"Who? He went to get Zechs, though I have no idea why he's taking so—damn!"

At that moment, a weird earthquake feeling shook the building. "What the hell was _that_?"

He didn't answer immediately, just got up and helped me stand. He only started to speak as he helped me towards the larger gym. "That is what happens when Wufei doesn't get what he wants, obstinate bastard that he is. Come on. We'd better go see what happened to make him that angry before he starts laying in on the other students."

When we got to the main practice room, I had the sudden urge to whistle. Wufei really was an amazing sight right then. He was pointing the flames that surrounded him towards Zechs. His hair was flying around his face dramatically. He looked like a scene from a movie. Really.

"Dammit, Chang. You couldn't have picked a better time or place, could you?" I heard Heero mutter as he stalked across the room towards 'Fei. I followed but stopped a few feet behind where he did.

Heero then proceeded to reinforce my new belief that this was not a dream or a practical joke. First he produced water to douse the flames, then made a shield of ice to protect himself from the raging fire. I figured that I'd be safer behind that barrier as well and hurried forward as soon as I realized what he was doing. 'Ro just kept dousing the flames and we trudged along closer to the fire keeper.

Finally, we got close enough for Heero to grab Wufei and transfer his ice energy from the shield to the other boy. After a few stressful and dramatic moments, both guys' powers began to die down. Now we could al rest easy, thank fuck.

"Well, that's one way to put out a fire." I couldn't resist. And the incredulous looks everyone turned to me was priceless. Nevertheless, I made a mental note to never make Wuffers really pissed. He had a very _fiery_ temper. Okay, so that was a horrendously bad pun. So sue me.

For the next couple weeks, all that happened was work, work, work. No more pretty light shows or anything. Booooring.

Well, there were a couple of dicks who decided that they didn't like me and tried knocking me around. Even had the balls to call me a "dirty little fag whore."

I can take the truth just fine. What I didn't like was their tone. My long hair probably didn't help any. It was in a braid now, thanks to Hee-man. I had to admit, it was easier to work with. I had to put up a hell of a fight to not get it cut off. I was constantly afraid that he would do it in the middle f the night. We made the compromise, though. Anyway, so I set that record straight real fast. Didn't tell the other four about it, though. Quatre would worry, and Wufei would probably yell at me and who knows what the others would do. Wasn't really anything important, really. Life here was so easy.

Except for the training. God, that was hell. Okay, I'm exaggerating, but I had to work at it. Woofers was teaching me about auras, and I'd managed to learn control thingies, so that I wouldn't fuck up like last time. I could tap into my power energy, too, even though we still weren't sure what it was. I had my suspicions, but no one had asked about what my little experience had been like and I hadn't said anything about it. I was doing great in what I had learned, though apparently.

I still couldn't believe that Heero had called me Duo. The guy is all-business and last names only and "The Mission." Seriously. No shit. I bet if he got laid, he'd lighten up. Anyway, he continued to use "Maxwell" in that cold, impersonal way that made you just wanna smack him. Or kiss him. But, yanno, that wasn't even an option. If I tried, even as a joke, he would've killed my sorry ass before you could blink. Didn't stop me from annoying the crap outta him, though.

Then one day, as me an' "Ro were heading to Arts, Quatre almost rammed into us, seemingly on the edge of panic. "Heero! Duo! Thank Allah I found you! I got a message from Doctor J! Here!" With that, he shoved something at Heero.

"He's coming here? With G? Why?"

Quatre shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe they found something out and they need to talk to us in person. I didn't actually talk to Doctor J; one of the secretaries handed me this note in my last class. Oh! I've got to go, but I'll talk to you guys later! See ya!" He waved and ran off again. Damn bundle of energy. I waned to know where he got his coffee.

Once we were in class, I voiced my confusion. "So…what was that all about?"

"You know how we told you about the guys who taught us about our powers?" I nodded and he continued. "Well, Doctor J was my mentor and I've been trying to get in contact with him for weeks, ever since that first day. Well, apparently he's coming to visit tomorrow and he's bringing Professor G with him."

"And G is…who?" Great more crazies. Just what I needed, yanno?

"The guy who has the same powers as you. Hopefully, we'll learn more when they get here since the note didn't say much."

Well, that's all fine and dandy, now isn't it? I thought for a moment, trying to decide if I could manage to trust yet another random fucker. "Oh." I nodded. "Okay. I guess they can come." If I hadn't decided that I would see these quacks, they would not have been able to keep me here alive. "Do you know exactly when they'll be coming?"

He didn't answer. I stared at him until he frowned slightly and looked at me.

"What?"

"I asked if you knew when they'd be arriving exactly." Man, this guy was supposed to help save the world. Yeah, so _I_ stared off into space and shit. But I was allowed to. I was a nut job that way. Heero, on the other hand was a completely different kind of lunatic. The kind that will wipe out a family if asked. Well, I didn't know that. But a guy could assume, right?

"Not really. All it says is that they'll arrive after classes tomorrow, which could be anytime between 3:30 and Armageddon."

Ohmigod. Call the press. Call the marines. Call the U.N. Heero Fucking Perfect Yuy had made a goddamn joke.

"Knowing J, though, I think it'll probably be sometime around nine tomorrow night. He's just like that."

And the surprises just continued. I was trying desperately not to laugh outright at him.

"Baka. Work on your homework instead of sitting there looking….stupid."

I rolled my eyes at the back of his head as he turned to do his precious work. But then I thought of something. "If J was your mentor…"

He turned to look at me and waited.

"Well, I was just thinking that if J was _your_ mentor, then why did he contact Q?"

"I don't know."

Well, that was helpful.

A/N: This is a joint ficcy with Haliaetus. I write Duo's POV, she writes Heero's. They're posted separately. You can probably read just one and be able to get it if you're too lazy or don't have the time to go look her up as well, but you should anyway.


	6. Broken Glass

Title: Collide- Duo POV

Author: Pathetic Otaku Child

Rating: M

Disclaimer: Don't own GW. Don't remind me…

Pairings: 1x2x1, 3x4, 5 by his sad widdle lonesome. TT.TT

Warnings: lots of very bad language, shonen-ai, Duo POV, magic, supernatural beasties, Hellish fiends (AKA Treize and Dorothy. And Relena), Senile old men, yaoi, possible lemons in other chapters.

A/N: This is a joint ficcy with Haliaetus. I write Duo's POV, she writes Heero's. They're posted separately. You can probably read just one and be able to get it if you're too lazy or don't have the time to go look her up as well, but you should anyway.

Broken Glass

The crazy men who were due didn't arrive that night. In fact, they decided to wait over twenty four hours. I had to say that Heero was right about the timing, though it was nicely done. I mean, the two old quacks came just in time to break up an impending fight. The five of us had been sitting in me 'n' Heero's room, as it had kinda been delegated the unofficial clubhouse. We were all feeling pretty antsy, and Wuffers kept on gettin' all pissed at me. Hey, my chatterbox mouth is a natural defense, awright?

So, we were spittin' and growlin' at each other, getting ready for a scuffle when they knocked.

Heero went to answer the door, and returned a short bit later with the two….freaks.

Really, that's the only way to say it. How else do you describe a guy with….forks…for hands and weird goggle glasses and a dude with a nose you could hang your coat on as well as a freakish scar? I mean, god.

ANYWAY!

The first guy stared at me (quite unsettlingly, I might add) for a little while before finally speaking.

. "You'd be the fifth, then, eh, boy?" He muttered. "Good, good. You'll need to be briefed and caught up to the others, but that shouldn't take too long. No, not long at all. Especially considering your powers…"

Damn, even the guy's friggin' _voice_ was giving me the creeps.

I stared back at him. Somehow, the old man seemed more surreal than this whole superhero business.

There was silence a minute. I couldn't see the other guys' faces, 'cause they were in front of me. The only faces I could see were the quacks' (ugh!) and Heero's. Finally, he spoke. "Uh, just what _are_ his powers, J?"

Thank you from the bottom of my heart. When 'Ro opened his mouth, the guy who'd been staring at me (J apparently) turned to him. I felt like I could breathe again.

"Ah, Heero lad. You seem well. Well, I think it would be best if G here answered that, since he's the one who would have taught the boy if we'd found him before now…"

The other dude, the one who was supposed to have the same power as me, took the spotlight. But he didn't _say_ anything for a few minutes, just like the other guy had done. What was wrong with these people?

"Mental awareness of one's magical potential is usually required for use of one's magical powers."

I blinked. Yeeeeah. The other guys had already explained that to me.

He continued. "However, in our case, your powers manifest themselves unconsciously until you learn of their existence, at which time they go into a type of hibernation until you are able to tap into them. This is what I was taught by my mentor and it is what I will pass on to you. Think carefully, boy. At any point in your life up until now, has there ever been a time when anyone you cared for died or was hurt in any way for apparently no reason at all?"

Oh dear god in hell.

Was this guy psychic? Unbidden, memories of Solo's heavy corpse came to mind. And of the burning church. I tried desperately to shove those memories back into the locked box they came from.

"How did you…? How could you…? Why…?"

He nodded. "Yes. Exactly. It will not happen unconsciously again, but every time you use your powers, there is always a possibility that it will get away from your control. Keep that in mind at all times. This is not a game and you cannot afford to treat it as such. Your powers are probably the least controllable of the five of you and you will have to work harder than they will to keep that control. I will not lie to you—it will be hard, possibly even harder than fighting your opponent will be. But you can survive, if you have the will." He turned to Heero's mentor. "Take the others out of the room. I need to speak to the boy alone."

The others moved out. I opened my mouth to ask them not to leave me, but then decided better of it. If this was going where I thought it was…

After they had left, G focused his beady little gaze on me.

"Something happened in your sorry past, I'm sure. Just like in mine. Want to tell me about it?"

I took a shuddering breath and glared at him. "No."

"Really. How sad. I guess I'll just have to guess then. Your guardian died? Best friend?"

I snorted. "Try all of the a-fucking-bove.

The old coot sat down beside me and stared out the window. "Yes, I know what you mean all too well. Although I do suspect that you had it worse than I did. I only lost my parents and a few other family members, and then my predecessor found me. You, on the other hand lost your parents, your gang and your orphanage family."

My throat tightened. "H-ow. No. Wha-what do you mean my parents?" I choked out.

Well, you must have had parents, boy. The whole egg and sperm thing. I seriously doubt that you just popped into being. Don't worry, though. It's natural for the bearer of death to take his parents' life forces when he's born. I would have been surprised if you hadn't. The poor doctors and nurses probably died too. Hmmmm. Or the entire population in the hospital. That would explain why there is no record of your birth and why you grew up on the streets. The amount of life force you take in at birth usually determines how powerful you'll be later. So if that's the case, I'd say you're probably one of the strongest death bearers ever. Congratulations, boy."

I went numb as he spoke. The bearer of death…the hospital staff…powerful…congratulations…He continued blather on, analyzing each of the most horrifying experiences in my life. They'd been following my life, yet they never were able to quite grab me until that one time with the Bastards in Black. Finally he stood, patted my shoulder, told me I could have some time to mull things over, and left. I sat there, dazed.

My fault. It had all been my fault. The deaths, the suffering, the crying, the stabbing, the burning. The innocents. It had all been my goddamned fault.

I blindly stared at the wall, not really seeing it. I had to…I had to get out of here. I went over to the window, opened it, and looked down. I was a couple stories up, but there was the ivy. I half consciously climbed down. _Now, how to get to town_? I thought lazily to myself. I recognized that I was in shock, and not thinking very clearly, but that didn't stop me from hotwiring someone's motorcycle. I had no idea who it belonged to, but it would get me away from this hellhole that had brought up one too many dark secrets.

The actual ride to town was rather uneventful, but a few streets into the small city, some damn stupid wino walked right out in front of me. I don't know why I swerved, I could have just as easily run him down and put him out of his fucking bloody misery.

But I did swerve, and ended up crashing headlong at full speed into a dumpster for my troubles. The wino just kept on going, muttering nonsense to himself. Well, at least I was in my element, back where I belonged. Dirty, hurt, on the streets next to the dumpster where I would probably get my next meal, and ignored by others. And trust me; the ignoring thing was the good one out of the equation. I mechanically looked myself, over trying to figure out the extent of my injuries. It felt like I might have a cracked rib or two, I had a gash on my leg, and my wrist hurt like hell. Overall, not too bad.

I ripped a strip from the prep shirt and tried to tie it around my leg with the one arm that wasn't screaming 'pain!' at the top of it's neurons to my brain. Hey, you can't say I didn't learn anything at that god forsaken school.

Eventually, I gave up on tying it, and just held the fabric on the wound, trying to stop the blood flow. Meanwhile, I looked around, trying to figure out where I could find somewhere safe. I saw an old phone booth not too far away and grinned. Someone up above was looking out for me. There aren't many booths around these days, but if you could find one, it was a fucking miracle.

I dragged myself over to it and entered, locking the door behind me. I loved these things. They kept out the weather, and they locked, so they kept out the baddies too. Usually the assholes don't bother to break the glass. They just go on to find a more accessible and far less fortunate target to rape and/or beat on. Of course, the glass doesn't always stop them. I had to learn that the hard way a few times. But it's usually a guaranteed safe place.

I leaned against the cool glass and started to take my mind away from the pain. But that only made my guilty thoughts have room to come back to the front of my mind. I hurriedly brought the pain back. It was much better than having to think about Solo and . . . Father Maxwell . . . and . . Sister Helen. . .

Finally the pain was too much and I fell into the welcome arms of unconsciousness.

When I woke, it definitely was not in that phone booth. For a minute I panicked, trying to figure out if I'd been kidnapped. Again. But then I listened for a moment. There was someone else in the room, I could hear the breathing. And for some reason the blankets I was on seemed familiar. And I wasn't tied up.

"You can open your eyes. I know you're not still unconscious."

Ah, so it was Heero in the room with me. He sounded as cold and officious as ever. I cracked one ye open. "Hiya, 'Ro,' I managed to croak out. Looks like my voice betrayed me too. Great. And to make things even better, he did not look very happy at the moment. Rather pissed off, really. How could I tell? There was a slight indentation between his eyes where his eyebrows had drawn together. Yeah, he didn't show much expression, but after a little while I'd gotten decent at reading him. People person and all that crap, yanno?

"What kind of stupid stunt were you trying to pull, Maxwell?"

Yep, definitely not happy camper. "Ummm. Yeah. About that. See, there's only so much a guy can take. I mean, I found out that it was my fucking fault that everyone died. I think I'm entitled to a little freak out." I managed to keep my voice light and mocking, as I was decidedly against letting him glimpse how much I was hurt.

"A _little_ freak out? Damn it, Maxwell, I had to drag you back here with multiple injuries. You were unconscious, and we were scared you wouldn't wake up. In what way is that little?"

Whoa, was that a hint of anger in his voice? Wow, he's being emotional, go me. "I didn't kill anyone, did I?"

After a moment, he said calmly, "No, you didn't kill anyone. Why do you ask?"

"I…it's nothing." During G's babbling, he'd mentioned something about my power being volatile during times of stressful situations or other times when I was panicking and such. When my dark emotions were high, my control was low. And I had definitely been having a darker emotion free for all.

I put those thoughts away for now. I had to use that control that Heero had been teaching me now. Cracking my eyes open, I could see that he didn't seem very convinced.

I remembered that the other guys didn't know what my abilities were. They deserved to know. So they could leave me. Of course they would. It was a natural human reaction. With one hand, I motioned Heero closer. Almost reluctantly, he moved about an inch or two.

I patted the bed stubbornly. I was not going to reveal my deep dark secrets with him standing a coule feet away. I got lucky. He didn't fight, instead sitting quietly.

We were silent until I spoke hoarsely. "'Ro. You mentioned one day that there's a way to look at someone's memories, right?"

He nodded. "Yes. But. It has to be after you're very close to someone, and you've already set up a telepathic link."

"Oh. Well, I guess that option's out. I'll just have to do it orally then. Wait….that wasn't innuendo, 'kay?"

I took a perverse pleasure in watching a slight blush darken his cheeks. Then I forced myself to remember that I probably wouldn't be able to tease him or any of he other guys, for that matter, once they found out how dirty I was.

"Anyway, the abridged version. You probably know that I grew up on the streets. Well, all I'll say about that is that it wasn't all fun and games. I found out today why I was there. Wanna know why?" I didn't wait for him to answer, instead plunging on before I lost my nerve. "'Cause I killed my own parent and a whole shitload of strangers at birth. You get that, Yuy? I was a mass murderer before I was an hour old? And there was this other incident, when I was seven. My family, my crew, my gang. We were fighting another crew for some turf. Less than a block. It seems so worthless now, but then it was a matter of life and death. Ha. Death."

I couldn't help the short, bitter bark of laughter than came out, I also couldn't help the hand that reached out to Heero's. Right then I just needed to know that he was there. He wasn't vanishing into thin air. He was listening. But I was shocked when he didn't push my hand away.

I continued. "Well, the fight had barely gotten started when some bastard threw a switchblade. It got Solo. Got 'im right in th' chest. He fell back wards onto me. Y'see, he was protecting me. He took it for me. Still dunno why. But he did. I panicked. I couldn't get 'im offa me. He was my hero. My everything. And then suddednly he wasn't moving, wasn't laughing. He wasn't alive. I guess then my powers got outta control. Everyone there died. My friends and my enemies. Then, later, at th' Maxwell Church, I stayed late at school for detention. I must have been only nine, but some asshole and his buds were pickin' on me. So I fought tem I won fair and square, but someone squealed to th' teach. I was really worried and depressed about that, 'cause I knew that I'd probably get 'xpelled next time I got in trouble. And that'd make Sister Helen and Father Maxwell real sad. They'd be all disappointed in me, yanno? I didn't want that. If anything, I didn't want that."

I laughed humorlessly again. "They never did find out. When I got home, it was burning. Everyone died. Everyone. Know why? My power's death, 'Ro. I kill innocent people," I finished, looking straight into his eyes.


	7. Plug

Title: Collide- Duo POV

Author: Pathetic Otaku Child

Rating: M

Disclaimer: Don't own GW. Don't remind me…

Pairings: 1x2x1, 3x4, 5 by his sad widdle lonesome. TT.TT

Warnings: lots of very bad language, shonen-ai, Duo POV, magic, supernatural beasties, Hellish fiends (AKA Treize and Dorothy. And Relena), Senile old men, yaoi, possible lemons in other chapters.

A/N: This is a joint ficcy with Haliaetus. I write Duo's POV, she writes Heero's. They're posted separately. You can probably read just one and be able to get it if you're too lazy or don't have the time to go look her up as well, but you should anyway.

Plug

What the hell was wrong with me? I sat in the bathroom, ignoring Quatre's pounding on the door and rambling, wondering. Somehow, I had ended up telling a sappy story about my childhood and powers and somehow ended up kissing Yuy.

I was thinking the same thing as all of you:

The fuck was I thinking?

Really, I didn't think I was. Thinking, that is.

God, Heero was going to have my ass on a platter, and not in a good way.

And god only knew what the other guys' reactions would be. I had finally been able to find a place I guess I could call home, with a possible family, but then I had to go and ruin all of that with that damned stupid mistake.

I considered going out the window again, but this one was too high up and too small. I decided to wait until no one was in the other room, and just get the hell outta here. It seems almost redundant, as I was in the same frame of mind not too long ago. But this time I was in control of my senses. Probably.

I just sat, slumped against the wall for a good while, listening to brief sounds on the other side and focusing my thoughts inward. So I'd killed people. So what? I'd seen plenty of dead bodies in my life that were in no way my fault. Yep, just keep that in mind and don't think of the other things. Y'know what? I decided I didn't even wanna think of that. So what could I think about?

I decided to think of a story I'd heard of once involving two guys and a hamster. Yes. Better idea. And, how about chocolate? Another safe topic choice. Not that the first one was safe, but….

I don't know how much time I spent in that little bathroom, but after a while, I put my ear to the door and didn't hear anything. So I stepped out, saw that Heero wasn't there and darted for my dresser. I just needed to avoid the guy for a while, then I could come back as sane as I usually was and act normally for me. Which would me that I wouldn't kiss him again. I didn't kiss my friends. That's just the way it is. Maybe he'd show an interest (Yeah right!), but if he did, I wouldn't mind. But I seriously doubted that, and that was why I was running. Well, that and the fact that I wasn't even sure why I had frigging gone and done that.

I threw a change of clothes in a back pack, slipped on my sneakers, put my knife in my pocket and darted into the hall. I made sure to avoid everyone as I made my way off campus. I had briefly considered stealing another bike, but I figured that it wouldn't be a good idea. Didn't want faculty getting too worried.

I was waay too tense. Walking all the way to the town helped a bit. Once I got there, I ignored the dented dumpster and the telephone booth and continued on my way. I sat to rest on some random crate and stared at my shoes.

Then it struck me how stupid this idea had probably been. The guys would get soooo worried. Except for Heero, of course. Scratch put what I said earlier about being in my senses. Damn.

"Hey. Fag."

Shit.

I hadn't said that it couldn't get worse. I had not challenged the power of worse. So how come it got worse?

I hate life and, I swear, the feeling mutual.

I looked up and the punks and glared. Obvious predators.

"What, not sayin' anything? Get up, you pansy, I'm talkin' to ya."

My eyes narrowed dangerously thin. "Shut the fuck up, asshole. I am not in the mood for your shit, so just back the hell off."

I could see the guy start to choke on his next words. I almost wanted to laugh. He hadn't been expecting that. But there was no way in hell he was gonna be running, simply because of his buddies.

I sighed, dropping my backpack to the ground as I stood. "What, you lookin' for a fight or somethin'?"

He smirked, looking me up and down. He's been scared by my words, but now when he saw I was probably a full foot shorter than he is, he seemed to have suddenly won his confidence back.

"Heh, you're a shrimp of a bastard. Probably a tight fit."

I twitched.

His gang laughed.

Damn. He'd been experimentally jabbing, and my traitor body had given him an opening.

He stepped forward. "So how much do you cost for a quick alley fuck, huh?"

I gritted my teeth and tried not to move otherwise. Attacking wouldn't be wise, probably. Not in my state. Death powers, remember? In the back of my mind, I went to work tying that part down, just in case.

"Talk, you faggot son of a bitch!" He stated to swing at me.

I used one hand to grab his wrist as it neared and pulled him along to follow his own motion, and used the other hand to take hold of his elbow. Then I twisted.

While he was on the ground whimpering and cradling his arm, I glared up through my bangs at the rest of the gang. Most of them were starting to back off, but a few were looking feisty.

One grabbed a pipe from a stack next to a house that was being remodeled and charged at me. I stepped and swiveled so my back was slamming against his chest as I grabbed his wrist with both hands. I circled, dragging him with me and dropped to one knee. After his face hit the pavement the initial time, I helped it meet the ground a few more times.

I glared up around me, ready for any other bastards who wanted a piece of me, but they seemed to have decided it was time to go home for supper and beddy bye time.

Sighing, I picked up my bag and started to the diner down the street. Some nice hot coffee would be nice before having to go back to the school. I was feeling better now and it would probably be less of a lecture now. Hopefully

I sipped my coffee and stared out at the night sky. I wasn't looking forward to the long walk, but hey. If I'd been thinking I would have made those punks give me their worldly possessions.

I won't bore you with the details of the long, eerie walk home. Personally, I have always wanted a fast forward button for life. Or a rewind. Or a mute, for that matter.

I took a deep breath before opening the door to me 'n' Heero's room. Time to face the consequences.

A/N: Gomen Nasai peoples for the long wait and for the melodramatics at the end of the last one. I didn't think it was very melodramatic, but everyone else did, so I'm going with that. ;… Blame Hal for the long wait, too. She left me with the cliffhanger. There wasn't supposed to be any limey contact until the party. So tis her fault.

So…..Has anyone noticed that the chapter titles are song titles? Here's a list of the ones used so far:

1- Pinch me, by…..uh, I forgot actually. 's been a while. ; Heh heh.

2- Me Against The World, by Simple Plan

3- Click Click Boom, by Saliva

4- Control It, by Static-X

5- Broken Glass, by Buckcherry

6- Plug, by Disturbed, Static-X, and Slipknot (compilation. Or at least that's what it said when I downloaded it.)

I HEART music. The last three are probably my favorites in that list. And Plug…? GO. Find it. I listen to it on repeat all the time. Sehr sehr sehr sexy, erotische, ero, amazing song. Gawds. Listened to it the entire time of this chapter. Because it makes for a sexiful Duo.

Plus I was trying to get my mind off of a creepy movie. Anyone else seen _A Tale of Two Sisters_? I wanna find the folktale it's supposed to be based on. /shivers/ I love it but I absolutely hate it as well.

Ja ne!


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